Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Long drives, air travel, exhausting waits: What abortion requires in the South

Just a quick walk through the parking lot of Choices-Memphis Center for Reproductive Health in this legendary music mecca speaks volumes about access to abortion in the American South.

3 Aug 2021

New moms latched on to remote breastfeeding help. Will demand wane as pandemic fades?

Madison Cano knew she wanted to breastfeed her son, Theo. But breastfeeding was painful for her. The skin on her breasts was chafed and blistered last July when she returned home from the hospital. And Theo sometimes screamed during feedings.

3 Aug 2021

Democracies more likely than autocracies to maintain universal health coverage

Despite widespread recognition that universal health coverage is a political choice, the roles that a country's political system plays in ensuring essential health services and minimizing financial risk remain poorly understood.

2 Aug 2021

Teachers unions could play a key role in helping to prevent COVID-19 spread, study suggests

School districts in Iowa were more likely to adopt COVID-19 mask mandates if they had a strong teachers union, according to a study in the August issue of the journal Health Affairs.

2 Aug 2021

Study: Pictures contain layers of mind

When an image of a person appears within a photo, that individual is perceived as being less real and having "less mind," according to new research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

2 Aug 2021

Study shows efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 delta variant

Researchers in Singapore have conducted a study showing that the messenger RNA- (mRNA) based coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are highly effective at protecting against symptomatic and severe disease following infection with the rapidly spreading B.1.617.2 (delta) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

2 Aug 2021

New model can help clinicians to predict 40-day mortality risk in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Researchers from Hackensack Meridian University Medical Center and Berry Consultants, LLC, Austin, Texas have developed a new model to help clinicians predict the risk of death within 40 days in patients who are hospitalized with COVID-19 infection.

2 Aug 2021

Latin American and Caribbean research contributions to tackle challenges posed by brain diseases

Every year there are nearly ten million new cases of dementia globally, of which Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most common form, accounting for around 60-70% of cases.

2 Aug 2021

Researchers discover titanium oxide nanoparticle that recognizes SARS-CoV-2’s non-structural protein 1

A pioneering study reports on the interaction of a tailored titanium oxide nanoparticle (NP) with the full-length SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 1 (nsp1). This should be of value in developing new therapeutic tools against coronaviruses that act by targeting their proteins. It could also help map the structure of activated proteins.

2 Aug 2021

Polyuridine sequence of mouse coronavirus can be targeted to prevent host cell death

A new study reports the use of a modified deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) oligonucleotide that has a 3’ polyadenine (polyA) tail to bind to the 5’-polyU tract in the mouse coronavirus (MHV-A59). Treatment of mouse cells infected with MHV-A59 with this molecule led to a marked reduction in cell deaths.

2 Aug 2021

Could novel biosensors facilitate SARS-CoV-2 antiviral drug research?

An intriguing new study presents a novel approach to biosensor-based evaluation of promising drugs that could inhibit the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) via its 3C-like protease (3CLpro), a viral protease.

2 Aug 2021

Intradermal administration of low-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccine induces strong immune response, study finds

Scientists in the Netherlands recently conducted an open-level, randomized-controlled trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of fractional intradermal doses of the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 (Moderna). The trial findings reveal that the fractional dose regimen of the Moderna vaccine is well tolerated and safe and is capable of inducing robust antibody responses in vaccine recipients. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

2 Aug 2021

Study: Working from home increases infant sleep duration

As the world transitions from pandemic lockdowns, pediatric sleep experts have found some pluses of working from home, including more sleep for babies and less daytime drowsiness for parents.

2 Aug 2021

Restoring a sense of belonging: The unsung importance of casual relationships for older adults

In May, Vincent Keenan traveled from Chicago to Charlottesville, Virginia, for a wedding — his first trip out of town since the start of the pandemic.

2 Aug 2021

12,000 square miles without obstetrics? It’s a possibility in West Texas

The message from Big Bend Regional Medical Center was stark: The only hospital in a sparsely populated region of far West Texas notified local physicians last month that because of a nursing shortage its labor and delivery unit needed to temporarily close its doors and that women in labor should instead be sent to the next closest hospital — an hour's drive away.

2 Aug 2021

In-depth sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 variants crucial in controlling outbreaks

In this interview, News-Medical speaks to Professor Dana Crawford about her research efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2 Aug 2021

Oh deer! Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 detected in 40% of wild white-tailed deer in four U.S. states

Researchers conducting a serosurveillance study of a North American deer species have provided evidence of exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among the animals across four U.S. states.

1 Aug 2021

Antibody responses following SARS-CoV-2 infection more potent than vaccine-elicited ones

Researchers in the United States have conducted a study showing the difference in antibody evolution following vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) between people who have not previously been infected with the virus and those who have.

1 Aug 2021

Fighting SARS-CoV-2 with nanomedicine

Published in the Journal of Controlled Release, researchers from the German University in Cairo, and the University of Cologne, looked into nano-reformulation of repurposed antiviral and immune-modulating drugs for inhalation therapy against COVID-19. In addition, they focused on how nanomedicine could address the limitations of current therapeutics, enhancing the efficacy, specificity, and safety of such drugs.

1 Aug 2021

Finding potential microRNAs from humans and plants against SARS-CoV-2

A new study focuses on the identification of probable miRNA candidates from three medicinal plants.

1 Aug 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Long drives, air travel, exhausting waits: What abortion requires in the South

New moms latched on to remote breastfeeding help. Will demand wane as pandemic fades?

Democracies more likely than autocracies to maintain universal health coverage

Teachers unions could play a key role in helping to prevent COVID-19 spread, study suggests

Study: Pictures contain layers of mind

Study shows efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 delta variant

New model can help clinicians to predict 40-day mortality risk in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Latin American and Caribbean research contributions to tackle challenges posed by brain diseases

Researchers discover titanium oxide nanoparticle that recognizes SARS-CoV-2’s non-structural protein 1

Polyuridine sequence of mouse coronavirus can be targeted to prevent host cell death

Could novel biosensors facilitate SARS-CoV-2 antiviral drug research?

Intradermal administration of low-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccine induces strong immune response, study finds

Study: Working from home increases infant sleep duration

Restoring a sense of belonging: The unsung importance of casual relationships for older adults

12,000 square miles without obstetrics? It’s a possibility in West Texas

In-depth sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 variants crucial in controlling outbreaks

Oh deer! Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 detected in 40% of wild white-tailed deer in four U.S. states

Antibody responses following SARS-CoV-2 infection more potent than vaccine-elicited ones

Fighting SARS-CoV-2 with nanomedicine

Finding potential microRNAs from humans and plants against SARS-CoV-2

Best practices - optimize qPCR processes for pathogen detection eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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